Austin Butler hosts SNL tonight with musical guest Lizzo + Cecily Strong announces departure
here we go!!! pic.twitter.com/zmNDeErN3v
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) December 14, 2022
• Austin Butler is the second former Nickelodeon star to host the show this season, and also the second Elvis star to appear on the show this season (Tom Hanks featured heavily into the Jack Harlow-hosted episode back in October and even got to kiss Bowen Yang at goodnights!)
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were originally scheduled as the musical guests for this week's episode, but last Saturday they announced that they would be no longer be able to perform on the show. They said that band member Nick Zinner was still recovering from pneumonia, and the band was cancelling the rest of their 2022 engagements in order to support his recovery. Lizzo, who just hosted the show for the first time back in April, will be performing in their stead.
• This will be the first full fledged SNL Christmas episode since Kristen Wiig hosted in 2020. Last year's episode was cancelled after a COVID outbreak affected several cast and crew members so Paul Rudd (who was supposed to host), Kenan Thompson, Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Michael Che and a skeleton crew taped a bunch of introductions to new and classic sketches and Fey even stepped in to help Che do a truncated version of the traditional Weekend Update joke swap to an audience of three.
Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it. We'll miss you, Cecily! pic.twitter.com/zsoGfw8SdP
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) December 18, 2022
• Just as dress rehearsal started, SNLs official social media accounts announced that veteran cast member Cecily Strong would be leaving the show after tonight’s episode.
• Strong joined the cast of season 38 in September 2012. She was hired alongside Aidy Bryant (who just left the show this past May), and Tim Robinson who was on the show for a season before moving back to the writers room.
• In season 39 she co-hosted Weekend Update with Seth Meyers, and after Meyers left the show in January she hosted with Colin Jost. She would leave the post over the summer break and was replaced by Michael Che.
• What else to say? She was one of the best to ever do it.
S48 Cast Photo!
📸: Mary Ellen Matthews pic.twitter.com/615xw9Pted
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) December 15, 2022
• Earlier this week the show shared the official season 48 cast photo. The photo is early (for the past few years it was taken and shared in the second half of the season thanks to many veteran cast members getting large chunks of time off from the show to shoot othe projects) and looks noticeably less crowded than the most recent cast photos.
#SNL had its best ratings of the season over the weekend with co-hosts Steve Martin and Martin Short. https://t.co/oDriDXr6E3
- TV Insider (@TVInsider) December 14, 2022
• Last week's Steve Martin/Martin Short episode gave SNL its highest ratings so far this season. The duo drew 5.1 million live + same day viewers, handily beating out the 4.8 million viewers the show scored with (ugh) Dave Chappelle a few weeks ago.
'SNL' Co-Stars Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim on Shopper’s Guilt, Big Dumb Blazers, and Twinning on Set https://t.co/UsgI8KhGmv
- ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) December 17, 2022
• Cast members Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim did a cute photoshoot at the SNL offices for an Elle Magazine interview. They talk about how their friendship was forged in a tiny shared dressing room, their deep love of fashion and why they love performing with each other. It's a great read!
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